COLLEGE STATION, TX (KLTV) -
ESPN is reporting that Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel will be suspended for the first half of Saturday's opener against Rice. The suspension comes as the result of an agreement between Texas A&M and the NCAA.
ESPN's Brett McMurphy says that the suspension "closes the book" on accusations that Manziel accepted money to sign autographs, after the NCAA acknowledged that the quarterback did not accept money.
In a statement released by Texas A&M and the NCAA, there was no evidence that Manziel got money for autographs, but an "inadvertent violation" with signings led to the half-game suspension.
Manziel met with the NCAA for almost six hours on Sunday talking to investigators about the alleged signings.
The meetings all stemmed from reports that the NCAA was investigating Manziel for taking money to sign autographs during the time of the BCS National Championship game in South Florida. ESPN also reported that a set of autograph dealers said the quarterback accepted payment to sign more than 4,000 items, including footballs and photographs, in late January.
In Manziel's absence, Texas A&M will start either junior Matt Joeckel or freshman Kenny Hill at quarterback.
The Texas A&M/Rice matchup kicks off on Saturday at noon on ESPN. Texas A&M is ranked seventh in the preseason Associated Press poll.
3 M L & C said:One half of one game is a joke. Basically the NCAA is saying they pretty much know he did it but can't prove it. Therefore I think he shouldn't be suspended at all or suspended for the whole game. If the team was in on the suspensions I think that is even worse. The first article I read it was unclear wether the team or the NCAA was doing the suspensions. For a team to suspend someone for one half of a game just says. Well we want to try to teach you a lesson, but we still want you to help us win the game. :roll:
3 M L & C said:One half of one game is a joke. Basically the NCAA is saying they pretty much know he did it but can't prove it. Therefore I think he shouldn't be suspended at all or suspended for the whole game. If the team was in on the suspensions I think that is even worse. The first article I read it was unclear wether the team or the NCAA was doing the suspensions. For a team to suspend someone for one half of a game just says. Well we want to try to teach you a lesson, but we still want you to help us win the game. :roll:
TexasBred said:3 M L & C said:One half of one game is a joke. Basically the NCAA is saying they pretty much know he did it but can't prove it. Therefore I think he shouldn't be suspended at all or suspended for the whole game. If the team was in on the suspensions I think that is even worse. The first article I read it was unclear wether the team or the NCAA was doing the suspensions. For a team to suspend someone for one half of a game just says. Well we want to try to teach you a lesson, but we still want you to help us win the game. :roll:
Stupid remark but it's your opinion......, many criminal and civil trials end up with not guilty verdicts. You KNOW they did it...you just can't prove it. That shyt don't fly................The article I read said the university set the suspension... maybe they're trying to hold down the score a bit. :shock:
Title:12.5.2.1 - Advertisements and Promotions After Becoming a Student-Athlete.
After becoming a student-athlete, an individual shall not be eligible for participation in intercollegiate athletics if the individual:
(a) Accepts any remuneration for or permits the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind; or
(b) Receives remuneration for endorsing a commercial product or service through the individual's use of such product or service.
ESPN's Brett McMurphy says that the suspension "closes the book" on accusations that Manziel accepted money to sign autographs, after the NCAA acknowledged that the quarterback did not accept money.
Mike said:The suspension was because he "should have known" that signing autographs that someone could possibly make money from is against the rules. Signing the autographs was an inadvertent infraction.
I look for all schools to make signing autographs against team policies from this ruling.
What part did the NCAA make up?
Title:12.5.2.1 - Advertisements and Promotions After Becoming a Student-Athlete.
After becoming a student-athlete, an individual shall not be eligible for participation in intercollegiate athletics if the individual:
(a) Accepts any remuneration for or permits the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind; or
(b) Receives remuneration for endorsing a commercial product or service through the individual's use of such product or service.
Mike said:NCAA sanctioned jerseys, etc. sales benefit the school & whole team, not the individual player. They have been doing that forever.
Would you want to eliminate that?
Mike said:The schools can still sell them but the NCAA won't anymore.
The NCAA got sued by two players claiming that the NCAA exploited their likeness and made money from their name.
3 M L & C said:Mike said:The schools can still sell them but the NCAA won't anymore.
The NCAA got sued by two players claiming that the NCAA exploited their likeness and made money from their name.
My point exactly. In the NCAA eyes they can use a players name to make money, but its the end of the world if a player tries to do that for his own name!!
Mike said:3 M L & C said:Mike said:The schools can still sell them but the NCAA won't anymore.
The NCAA got sued by two players claiming that the NCAA exploited their likeness and made money from their name.
My point exactly. In the NCAA eyes they can use a players name to make money, but its the end of the world if a player tries to do that for his own name!!
The school was getting a big chunk of those jerseys that the NCAA sold.
So, you're saying that if Manzeil made money from those autographs, you're OK with it?
The recent allegations from ESPN of more autograph signings by Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel point to an alarming trend. The "World Wide Leader In Sports" is focusing all of its resources on Manziel, and ignoring the other star athletes in college who have similar numbers of signed memorabilia available online.
ESPN's focus on Manziel indicates either a surprising lack of effort by their investigative journalists, or a bias against Manziel and Texas A&M. There is simply no easy way to explain the sports channel's motives, nor the inconsistencies in the story.
When ESPN started this story the narrative was that Manziel had accepted a "five-figure" sum to sign autographs. A day later the sum of money changed to $7,500 from the original report of "five-figures."
ESPN has no record of money changing hands. All they have are statements from "sources" that they gave Manziel money for his signatures. Joe Schad has allegedly seen video of Manziel signing memorabilia, but cannot provide the video for anyone else to see. The broker interpreted what Manziel said on the video as it was not readily apparent from Schad listening to it. Supposedly Manziel said he needed the $7,500 so he could buy rims for his car. This all allegedly occurred on January 11th and 12th of this year.
A picture of Manziel driving his Mercedes was posted on a premium board of Texas A&M fan site TexAgs.com. The picture was taken on March 13th and shows Manziel's vehicle with stock rims on it.
So there is no actual proof that Manziel took money, except the statement from a source that refuses to cooperate with anyone, that Manziel wanted money to buy rims for his car. There is proof that two months after this alleged transaction that Manziel still had not bought rims for his vehicle.
Schad and Darren Rovelle are doing most of the investigative reporting on Manziel. So far they have been unable to come up with a single "source" who will cooperate with the NCAA.
Drew Tieman was named in the "Outside The Lines" report that broke the investigation story on Manziel. He was the one who said that Manziel was paid a "five-figure sum." Tieman has multiple arrests on his record including drug dealing, and has spent time in prison.
It is hard to take any investigation seriously that is based on the word of a drug dealer. Evidently that is all ESPN needs to make a story.
Since it has become apparent that ESPN cannot find any proof of Manziel receiving money, they have concentrated on the fact that Manziel has signed such a large number of items. Their argument is that he signed a large number of items that have been submitted to authenticators like JSA in sequential order.
That is usually an indication of a large-scale signing, the kind done by an athlete for money. The problem is that a simply search of eBay reveals large lots of items like Manziels, that are signed by other college stars such as Jadeveon Clowney, Braxton Miller and Teddy Bridgewater.
Why is ESPN concentrating on Manziel instead of reporting on the large number of star athletes in college football who have these huge lots of autographed items for sale online? If these large lots of sequentially ordered autographed items are evidence that Manziel was compensated, then why aren't they proof that Clowney, Miller and Bridgewater were compensated as well?
When news of their athletes having large lots of autographs on the market came to light, South Carolina, Ohio State and Louisville issued statements that their athletes had been investigated and were clear.
Texas A&M responded to similar allegations about Manziel in March, yet evidently this is not good enough for ESPN. For some reason ESPN has decided to accept the word of the athletic departments at South Carolina, Ohio State and Louisville, but not Texas A&M.
ESPN's motivations on this matter are unknown. What is known is that they have seemingly ignored a larger story involving multiple Heisman Trophy candidates with autographs for sale online, in order to focus on Manziel.
They are relying on sources of questionable character and reporters who have proven to be gullible in the past. They have refused to do even basic investigations into the backgrounds of these dealers in order to find out why they might be motivated to hurt Manziel.
All of this to expose an investigation that has evidently not even started yet. Texas A&M has not received a notice of inquiry yet. That is the first step in an NCAA investigation.
So you have ESPN reporting on an investigation that has not started, and their evidence of wrongdoing are statements by a bunch of people who will not go on camera or identify themselves, except the one who served time in prison for drug dealing.
No one can say for certain why ESPN is breaking basic rules of journalism in order to keep Manziel's name in the news cycle. It will be interesting to see where this story leads and how Rovelle and Schad come out at the end of this.
3 M L & C said:The NCAA is the biggest hipocritical group there is. In that rule it states he can't promote the sale or use of his name. But up until a few weeks ago you could go on the NCAA website and type in Manziel and up would pop his jersey for sale on the NCAA website.